MUMBAI: US broadcaster NBC has announced that its show "Three Wishes" will make the holidays a little more magical for 13 children.
Their wishes will be granted in a special Yuletide episode airing tonight, 2 December 2005.
The Three Wishes team will travel all over the US, playing Santa to kids wishing for everything from a snow in sunny Los Angeles to a chance to visit Sesame Street in person.
An eight-year-old boy named Colton who suffers from Retinitis Pigmentosa gets a chance to see some famous sights in New York before he completely loses his vision from the disease.
A nine-year-old boy from Michigan who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma meets his hero and inspiration, Mario Lemieux, the famous hockey star who suffered from the same disease and beat it.
Two aspiring young singers from Ohio who have formed their own band get a trip to Nashville, where one of the surprises awaiting them is spending time in a recording studio with Grammy Award winner LeAnn Rimes.
An 11-year-old athlete from Michigan who dreams of having a famous soccer player coach her team gets a surprise visit from three-time Olympic medalist and two-time World Cup champion Brandi Chastain, while a nine-year-old boy from Virginia who has faced enormous health challenges gets his Christmas wish to be pilot for a day.
Another little girl's dream comes true when she gets to meet her favorite Sesame Street character - Cookie Monster - in person, and an eight-year-old dinosaur enthusiast gets a chance to go on a real archeological dig in South Dakota with famed paleontologist Paul Sereno.
In the spirit of the season, many children make wishes for others. Three Louisiana girls wish for a Christmas miracle - to see their Aunt Rhonda, who is confined to a wheelchair, walk again - and their wish is granted as they see her take her first steps. A selfless little girl in Los Angeles wishes to help her cousins in Louisiana replace all the toys they lost in Hurricane Katrina, while another young girl wants to surprise her friend, Summer - who is recovering from cancer - with a snowy winter wonderland at her home in sunny Los Angeles.
A 10-year-old California girl surprises her brother with the chance to swim with dolphins, and a young boy in New Mexico wishes for a playground for the day care center he stays in that helps care for children of low-income families. Plus, a nine-year-old from Iowa wants to help local paramedics assist other kids in need as a thank you for helping her when she was in a car accident years before.
